Abstract:

Civilizational concepts can be instilled into rural areas from the outside. However, if separated from the cultural foundation of rural society, they can hardly be integrated into daily life scenarios and behaviors so as to form a stable and lasting civilized rural atmosphere. Local culture serves as a compatible cultural system for the construction of rural civilization. The “localization” of such construction inherently requires grounding in the context of indigenous culture and relying on the cultural networks and organizational resources nurtured by local culture. In this sense, local culture constitutes the cultural foundation for the construction of rural civilization. Nevertheless, the construction of rural civilization is not a simple restoration of local culture. It does have distinct modern goals and value orientations. Under specific circumstances, there will be certain practical tensions between local culture and modern civilized ethos, mainstream values, and generalized trust mechanisms. To effectively mitigate such tensions, the construction of rural civilization should be regarded as an important dimension for the creative transformation of local culture, providing value guidelines, goal orientation and practical fields for its transformation and renewal. This will continuously consolidate the cultural foundation for the construction of rural civilization and build a new form of rural civilization with both local characteristics and modern spirit.

Key words: rural civilization, local culture, tension, creative transformation